Haydale, (AIM: HAYD), the global advanced materials group, has been jointly awarded a contract by the English Institute of Sport ('EIS') for the development of advanced wearable technology for elite athletes in training for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, in collaboration with the Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating ('WCPC'), Swansea University.

Initial work is already in progress to incorporate Haydale's advanced materials into flexible, printable coatings which will be embedded into a range of apparel for elite athletes. Initial deliverables include prototype wearable technology garments which demonstrate the form, technical functionality and wearability aspects required by elite athletes.

Production is then expected for garments for use by athletes during their training and in competitions up to 2020.

The contract with EIS will help drive Haydale's wearable technology know how in developing progressively smaller hardware components, quicker and cheaper printing techniques and methods of introducing these technologies into clothing manufacturing processes.

In collaboration with WCPC, Haydale has developed and refined a range of proprietary printing inks, which fulfil a range of functions in sensing and conditioning, combined with ease of printing for use in the wearable technology market which is growing rapidly.

Dr Matt Parker, Director of Performance Innovation for EIS, states, "The EIS performance innovation team is continually looking for external expertise that can help us optimise athlete performance - we believe the partnership with Haydale and WCPC will allow us at the EIS to make significant advances in our use of wearable technologies and we are delighted to be working with them."

Roger Smith, Director at Haydale commented, "We are pleased to be working with EIS to apply our advanced materials technology to support elite athletes who are hoping to compete at the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics."

Keith Broadbent, COO at Haydale, commented, "The close relationship with our colleagues at WCPC is now bearing fruit with a range of robust, stable, high performing inks and coatings emerging from extensive development work and finding commercial applications in wearable technology, printed sensors and thermal management. We are also looking forward to exploring other opportunities with EIS in their quest for improved performance."

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Notes to Editors

About Haydale Graphene Industries

Haydale is a global technologies and materials group that facilitates the integration of graphene and other nanomaterials into the next generation of commercial technologies and industrial materials. With expertise in graphene, silicon carbide and other nanomaterials, Haydale is able to deliver improvements in electrical, thermal and mechanical properties, as well as toughness. Haydale has granted patents for its technologies in Europe, USA, Australia, Japan and China and operates from six sites in the UK, USA and the Far East.

For more information please visit: www.haydale.com
Twitter: @haydalegraphene

About the English Institute of Sport

The EIS is the UK's largest provider of world-class science, medicine, technology and engineering services, supporting athletes, coaches and sports across the UK's high-performance system to improve their training and performance. Currently the EIS works with over 40 Olympic and Paralympic sports, operating out of a number of high performance centres in England including Bisham, Loughborough, Sheffield, Manchester, Lilleshall and Bath.

Since the EIS was established in 2002, it has played a vital part in the success of the UK high performance system, including sport and athlete performances at European and world championships and the Olympics and Paralympics.

About WCPC

The Welsh Centre for Printing and Coating, College of Engineering, Swansea University, is one of the world's leading centres for research and development in printing, inks and coatings. The WCPC undertakes research and development for all applications of printing by all processes and has a close collaborative partnership with Haydale for the development of state of the art nano enhanced inks and coatings. The WCPC is undertaking research and development at the forefront of the fundamental chemistry of functionalised nanomaterials. The WCPC is part of the EPSRC Centre for Innovative Manufacture of Large Area Electronics and is a previous winner of the EU RegioStars Award for its work with industry.